Farbod woke to the voice of his mother calling his name outside his door.

Then he heard the women sobbing in the living room. Although the noise was muted, he felt annoyed- why wouldn’t they take some pills or something like he did and just go to sleep. That godawful wailing had been ringing in his ears for three days now. A hot wind blew through his open window.

“Farbod… Farbod…” His mom’s voice was clear now, just at the door, as if she was calling him for dinner like always..

Farbod stood up straight, his heart pounding wildly. He knew this had to be the effects of the drugs he had taken, to help him get through the day- he had washed and buried his mother with his own hands barely seven hours ago. Despite the drugs, every detail of the day stood out, shining in his mind in sharp relief. Everything else was dark.

“Farbod, my heart, you look so pale. Haven’t you been eating? May I give my life for you, my son. My breath, my life.”

How many times had he heard those words, growing up? Common utterances from mothers to sons everywhere.

“Mama?” He whispered in the dark.

His mother moved and came closer. She was wrapped in her shroud, but it was poorly done, fluttering off, and parts of her naked body beneath it were visible. The shroud itself was no longer clean and fresh as he had seen it seven hours ago, but dirty, smeared with soil.

Farbod tried to cry out, but his mouth was completely dry.

“Don’t be scared my son, my darling son. But I had to come and tell you-”

Images flickered in Farbod’s drug-addled head. For a moment he was back in that terrible place, washing his mother’s corpse under the strict instructions of the official corpse-washer who oversaw the burial rituals. The sound of wailing and the chanter’s mourning songs outside rose above the splashing sounds of the water, pouring from the hose. His mother’s corpse lay on the slab. He was trying not to look at her but he had to.

His mother stood before him now, in her fluttering shroud, and smiled. “My poor son, why did you have to do this? Don’t worry my heart, everybody goes through this, it will pass. But- you made a mistake, so I had to come back and tell you.”

“No!” gasped Farbod. “No mistake- I followed the instructions!”

“It’s those drugs- didn’t I keep telling you not to take drugs- but you wouldn’t listen. And now look what you’ve done to us. To both of us” she reached out her earth-covered bare arms towards Farbod,

Farbod stepped backward, into the open window. The hot winds took hold of him, and with his mother looking down and smiling kindly and sadly at him, he fell, down into the heat and scorching earth beneath.